Patrick Mahomes Reveals Startling Admission in Playoff Loss

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes learned a valuable lesson in the second half of the AFC Championship Game loss to the Bengals.

You must play to win, not to lose.

Mahomes told  TheRinger.com that after jumping out to a big early lead, the Chiefs became so focused on playing it safe that they stopped doing the things that had brought them success in the first half of the game.  The Chiefs blew a 21-3 lead to lose to Joe Burrow and the Bengals.

Via the Ringer:

“The second half of that game: I don’t want to say we relaxed, but I mean when you lead like you did, you want to make sure you win the game, but you don’t want to play like you’re playing not to lose,” Mahomes said. “And I feel like that’s what we did. As a team, we were playing not to lose, we were playing just to get to the Super Bowl. If you look, they didn’t do much different from the first half to the second half. We just didn’t execute at a high enough level. They were playing the same coverages and we weren’t executing. Then momentum gets in the other team’s favor and when you’re playing a good football team, bad stuff happens.”

I had a candid chat with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid about the lessons they learned from their weirdest and hardest season together, the AFC title game, and what it all means for 2022. Read this: https://t.co/h1gA8S22zf

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) August 8, 2022

After the Chiefs’ 27-24 loss, Mahomes now knows he can’t allow his mentality to change depending on the score.

At some point you have to give the Cincinnati Bengals credit for just wanting it more, as hindsight is always 20/20.

Wouldn’t be too surprised if the Bengals use this as bulletin board material next time they play the Chiefs.

Welcome to the game outside the game! Follow us on our Sideaction Twitter handle, Instagram, and Facebook for the latest on sports and pop culture news across the web!